Rebirth
Rebirth was the second major writing project undergone by Kourtney Edmunds while staying on Venus Island. Written on the second of August, 2017, Rebirth was also the first full-length story that Kourtney had written that explicitly featured other islanders. While Tetrad had danced around this concept by injecting inspiration from other islanders into otherwise original characters, Rebirth went so far as to include other islanders in the story. Plot The story begins with a retired female samurai, Naotora, visiting the village spa to relax. Here she meets two girls named Hannah and Rosalie, who recognise her as being the one who defeated Tora, an evil monster who had terrorised the village a long while ago. Nicole had retired soon afterwards, as she believed the village to be safe. The next day after meeting the two girls, she discovers that they have disappeared from the village, leaving no trace but the telltale signs of Tora that Nicole instantly recognises. She digs out her old samurai gear and prepares to venture out to save the pair and defeat Tora once again, but is stopped by Hayabusa, who had "replaced" her as the village guardian after her retirement. He reminds her of how she nearly lost aginst Tora the first time around, and tells her that he will only let her go if he comes along with her. She reluctantly agrees, and the pair leave the village in search of the two missing girls. Along their journey, the two reach another village; a woman named Lady Hayakawa expresses interest in joining their party, and so the team of now-three continue journeying across the land in search of Tora and the two girls. Eventually, they stumble across the ruined mountain castle in which the last battle with Tora look place; they walk inside to pay respects to the deceased Tsuna, a young girl who had helped Naotora to defeat Tora the first time round, but ended up dying in the process. Tsuna appears to them as a spirit, informing them that she knows that Tora has returned and directing them to where they need to go. With a new destination, the party sets off and continues on; however, they are caught off guard by Tora's sudden arrival later on in their journey, which knocks Lady Hayakawa unconscious. Naotora and Hayabusa begin to fight Tora, but Hayabusa's inexperience against Tora puts him at a disadvantage, especially since Tora has since grown more powerful. After Hayabusa is killed and Naotora is severely weakened, Lady Hayakawa regains consciousness just in time to use a spell that slowly causes Tora to disintegrate; however, the spell is too weak to do any real damage, and so Lady Hayakawa is knocked out of the way by Tora's sheer strength, disabling the spell. Fatally wounded as a result, she uses her remaining life to summon friendly spirits. Naotora can do nothing but watch as the spirits of Tsuna, Hayabusa, Hannah, and Rosalie all form a line in front of her, with the spirit of Lady Hayakawa in front of them, casting the spell that finally defeats Tora. While she is unconscious, Naotora dreams of the spirits of Hannah and Rosalie telling her where their bodies are, and pleading with her to bury them so they can rest peacefully. The story ends with Naotora standing over the five graves as her mother comes to console her. Rebirth (Good Ending) Four days after releasing Rebirth to the island, Kourtney began to receive complaints that the ending was too dark, and that having everyone die was not the most satisfying and uplifting ending in the world. She responded by writing an alternate ending, titled "Rebirth (Good Ending)", where Hannah and Rosalie are not killed. After Tora is defeated, Naotora buries Hayabusa and Lady Hayakawa where the battle took place, and continues on to the destination that Tsuna had guided the party towards. Naotora rescures Hannah and Rosalie, and the three return to their village, where Naotora decides to come out of retirement. Trivia *Hannah and Rosalie are islanders directly featuring in the storyline. As well as this, the main character, Naotora, is almost identical to Nicole, but with a Japanese name and appropriate backstory. *Natalie also makes an appearance in the story, albeit brief. An unnamed village Geisha is described a handful of times in the story, and appears to bear an uncanny resemblance to Natalie in her Geisha costume. Category:Kourtney's Anthology